Finally Falling
by nij2401
Summary: Lily and James "beginnings". Rated T for language use. Sorry I changed the title!
1. The Train

The Train

Lily had departed from King's Cross Station. She was searching for Alice Greenwood. _Probably somewhere with Frank, _she thought, as the two had become a well-known couple throughout the past year.

Lily was starting her sixth year at Hogwarts and she _still_ didn't have a boyfriend. Well, she knew someone who _wanted_ to be her boyfriend, but she would never let that happen, not in a million years. James Potter was a big-headed idiot. Well, apart from the fact that he'd saved Severus's life.

Severus. Snivellus. The idiot. He'd called her a Mudblood, even though she thought he was her friend. _Let him go and suck up to the Death Eaters,_ Lily thought. She didn't care about him anymore.

At last, she found the carriage. Alice was asleep with her head on Frank's shoulder. No use. She would try and find Marlene or Mary.

The doo of the compartment opened. James Potter stood there. His light brown eyes scanned Lily's face.

"Looking for someone?" he asked, "I'm trying to find Sirius. That damned idiot was trying to cheat the trolley lady out of Firewhisky."

"Yes, have you seen Marlene?"

"I'll tell you if you go out with me," he replied, his eyes sparkling.

"What kind of deal is that?"

"A very good one. Come on, Lily, just once!"

"Never in your wildest dreams, Potter."

"I don't think you want to see what happens in my wildest dreams," he said maliciously.

"I'll find her myself."

Lily ran off, her red hair flying behind her. James sighed, and tried to find Sirius.


	2. The Disappearance

The Disappearance

Months passed by. It was May. Christmas and Easter had come and gone and Lily was surprisingly not much annoyed by James. In fact, she was also missing it. However, she also had plenty of good times with her friends, and she spent time revising for exams.

Strangely, James's little gang seemed to be whispering anytime they met each other. When Lily passed by, they whispered more, apparently just to irritate her. Even Remus seemed to be in on the act, which bugged Lily because Remus was a _prefect._

Well, Lily didn't think much of it. She couldn't. _I have better things to worry about than James Potter and his gang of bloody idiots, _she said to herself. Even so, she was worried.

A few days later, Lily headed back to the common-room after a library session, to find that the four boys weren't there.

"You guys," she asked Frank, Alice, Mary and Marlene, "where are James and all the rest of them?"

"Dunno," Frank and Alice replied in unison.

"They went out of the common-room some time ago," Mary said.

"Why are you so bothered? Are you finally falling in love with James? Huh?" Marlene joked.

"Shut up," Lily replied. She didn't care about them. She _couldn't._ But she still thought it appropriate to investigate.


	3. The Hill

The Hill

Lily thought about where they might be. She wondered about a piece of parchment that they were so fussy about, and remembered seeing it under the common-room table. Using the excuse that she just wanted some parchment, she took it out. The stupid boys had left it open. _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map, _it read. Lily rolled her eyes and opened the map. Four black dots were in a passageway leading to Honeyduke's cellar.

She sprinted down there and went through the trapdoor. She was out of breath and considered giving up, but soon caught sight of Sirius's matted hair. She followed it as silently as possible. They led her on a long trek up a hill.

"And now," Sirius cried out, "to celebrate Wormy's seventeenth birthday, we open some of Ogden's finest!"

Lily became furious. How dare they drink in school! But she decided to let them have some fun before stopping them.

Sirius drank the most. He became fully drunk after half an hour, as did Peter and Remus. But James only drank Butterbeer. Lily always thought Remus would drink least and James would drink second most.

"But what 'appened between you and Fay, Sirius?" Peter asked, extremely tipsy.

"She cheated on me, so I broke up with 'er. Anyway, she was a motherfucking bitch." Sirius mourned.

"That wouldn't work," Remus said, "she could be a father-fucker but not a motherfucker. That'd just be awkward, mate."

"Guys, shut up a minute," James interrupted, "I think I saw something move." He pointed in Lily's direction.

Lily gasped. The plan was ruined. James came up to her and went, "Lily? What are you doing here? Please don't tell on us!"

Lily sighed and thought for a while. "OK," she said, "but just this once."

"Join in the fun, Lily!" Sirius exclaimed.

Lily had her first, last and only sip of Firewhisky that day. It was alright, but it burned her insides.

The three drunkards just made the situation worse by drinking more and falling about all over the place.

"Lily," James said, "I think you'll agree with me when I say it's time to take them back to Gryffindor tower."


	4. Going Back

Going Back

Lily and James had to hold Sirius, Remus and Peter between them. This was not an easy process. They continually struggled. It was a good thing Lily had the map, because they wouldn't have known who was coming and when to hide. They'd used the Langlock curse on the drunken ones to shut them up.

"Wow, Lily," James remarked, "you're not as fast at this as I thought you'd be."

"Well, I've never carried one and a half almost fully-grown men before, so it's difficult," Lily retaliated. She stumbled.

"Hey! Let me help you," James responded. He held Lily's waist to steady her. Lily somehow felt strange. It was unusual. It wasn't that she didn't like it; it was that she loved it.

"And that's the closest you'll ever get to me, Potter," she said reluctantly.

At last, they got to the Fat Lady, where they had to yell to wake up her and Violet, her friend. James levitated the three drunks up the stairs to their dormitory.

"Goodnight Lily," James said.

"Goodnight… James," Lily replied.

"Hey! So we're on first name terms."

"Yes, but again, the closest you'll ever get."

James gave Lily a small wave before hurrying up the stairs. Lily smiled after him, shook her head slightly and went up to her dormitory, to fall asleep immediately.


	5. The Duel

The Duel

Lily woke up to find that she was upright. She felt odd, and only then did she realise that there was a wand pointed at her throat.

She followed the hand that was holding the wand, and saw that the face belonged to Rosier, one of the Death Eaters. She felt in her pockets for her wand, but Rosier laughed.

"Come on, Mudblood, you're meant to be clever! Do you really think we'd let you keep your wands?" He pointed to a dish on a table containing three wands, and only then did she realise she was in the Room of Requirement.

She looked to the side. Sirius and Remus were there, both wandless, both being threatened. Lily thought she saw someone… But it couldn't be. It couldn't be Peter. She decided to keep quiet or the others would think she was ridiculous. Just then, they heard the clunk of boots, and Bellatrix Black strode in.

"Well, well," she said, her voice laced with poison, "look at the hoard we have today. The blood traitor-" -her eyes skimmed Sirius- "the half-blood-" -she eyed Remus- "and the Mudblood." The two circles of brown madness rested on Lily.

"But first, we have someone else to show you. Come here, child!"

A timid first-year Gryffindor girl who Lily had seen shuffled forth.

"You definitely won't join the Death Eaters, will you?" Her dulcet tones reached the girl's ears and she shook her head. Bellatrix took a deep breath and-

"CRUCIO!"

The girl was hit with a torture further than her wildest dreams. She screamed. Her pain hit Lily's ears and rivers of emotion ran from her eyes. She turned to the others. Sirius was as enraged as a wild bull, desperate to fight the clutches of the Death Eater restraining him. Remus was slumped back and crying. He seemed so helpless. She had to do something.

But she couldn't. She needed her wand. Or did she? She was quite good at wandless spells and the best in the class at non-verbal magic but the two combined…

She still had to try. She turned it over and over in her mind and…

Rosier was knocked over. He, in turn, knocked over Bellatrix, and there the chaos started.

Lily dashed to grab her wand. She Stunned the Death Eaters restraining the others and chucked them their wands. At this point, more Death Eaters arrived, and soon spells were being fired in all directions.

It took half an hour for everything to subside. Most Death Eaters had been Stunned, some had run away.

"Where's the girl?" Lily asked, rather out of breath.

"I told her when to run," Remus replied, "and it's time we do too. Let's go!"


	6. Running Away

Running Away

The three ran. It didn't matter where. They just ran, and they thought they were safe.

Until they heard footsteps behind them.

Remus was first to react. He Disarmed the person and then cast the Impediment jinx. Only then did he realise it was-

"Regulus!"

At this, Sirius started to charge, but the other two restrained him.

"You!" he yelled, still struggling. "Haven't you got an ounce of decency in you? You and most of the rest of our family are what make me ashamed to call myself a Black! I HATE BEING PART OF YOUR FAMILY!"

"Do you think I want to be part of your family, you blood traitor?" the younger brother replied. "Go! Go with your Mudblood friends and pride yourself on being in Gryffindor, the house that tarnishes wizarding blood! I hope I never have to see your face again!"

Remus and Lily grabbed Sirius and sprinted down the hallway to keep him from attacking his brother. They ran as fast as they could to Gryffindor tower. James was outside the common-room and as soon as he saw them, he said,

"There you are! Where the hell have you been?"

Lily, before thinking properly, flung herself into James's arms and cried. She didn't know why, she didn't care that the others were staring at her, she just cried.

James felt awkward. As much as he fantasised about it, he didn't know exactly how to properly hug a girl. He just patted her back gently. He heard Lily cry about the first-year girl who was tortured by Bellatrix and about the duel. James was beginning to understand what the adults were saying; there truly were dark times ahead.

"It'll be OK," he whispered, "Hush, Lily, it'll be OK," even though he wasn't entirely sure if that was true.


	7. Finally Falling

Finally Falling

James came down to breakfast the next day, looking forward (as always) to see Lily again. She was at the table, comforting the first-year who Bellatrix tortured. She looked almost normal.

"Hey Lils," he said as he walked down. She didn't reproach the nickname; in fact, she liked it.

"All better now?" she asked the first year, "Good. See you later!"

As the first year ran off to join her table, James said, "Wow, you're good at comforting kids," and in a softer voice, "Just like you would be with our children."

"What?" Lily asked, threateningly. Evidently not soft enough. "We aren't even going out yet, and you're thinking about kids?"

"Wait," James interrupted, "yet? We're not going out yet? So you might want to-"

"We'll see," Lily interrupted, and went off to Ancient Runes.

But she felt better than she normally did. Because, deep down, she knew that something was happening that she'd never expected.

She was finally falling.


End file.
